52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: If I were to win the lottery, 5 Things I'd Buy

This would require actually playing lottery, which my husband and I don't do but it was fun to discuss this week's topic with him as I made my list.  Some of these were on both our lists and one wasn't.  Here are the first 5 things we would buy...

 

1. Pay off our house. Enough said...no monthly mortgage!

2. New cars...I really want a minivan!  Yes, call me soccer mom or whatever you'd like but it would be great to have a minivan with all the extras!  There have been countless times that we've borrowed my sister's minivan because neither our cars fit more than just our family.  Special K really wants a new truck and I would love him to get a new one with a bigger back seat! 

3. Renovate our house.  We have a list of things we plan to do within the next couple years but if we had lottery money then we could do them all right now!

4. A vacation cabin in the mountains.  Not sure exactly where this would be but would love a nice cabin to vacation to.

5. Pay off family mortgages or buy them a house.  We would pay off or purchase a home for each of our parents and our siblings.

Kenny added another one that I wish I would have thought of before I made my list but it would definitely be something that would be on the top of our list if we did have this money. His great idea was to set up trust and college funds for the girls!   When I thought of this list, I thought of right now...figured I wanted immediate satisfaction. 

What would the first 5 things you buy be?

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: My Biggest Weakness

Dessert...dessert is my biggest weakness.  

JUST KIDDING...If I thought last week's topic was hard...picking just one weakness was harder. Again I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with this post. I am flawed as all humans are.  

I wake up each day with a plan for the day. I go to get started and I get distracted...distracted by what I have no clue! 

This often is paired with tunnel vision. I get so focused on what I am doing that I forget about other things.  I am very capable of multitasking, however, things that I deem important are usually where I put my focus.  Those important things get done 110% but the others go by wayside and sometimes get forgotten.

How this effects my daily life is that I tend to forget to do things. It's not that I intentionally try to forget them.  I always have good intentions, however it's my follow through that really bites the big one!  People who know me know I need lots of reminders to do things.  If I don't do something right away...just keep reminding me because I probably forgot or am focusing on something else at that moment.  I know this can be frustrating for many, especially my husband. He doesn't understand how I didn't see something right there!  I just never focused on it.  I don't do it on purpose, it's just the way I have always been.  I know this about myself though and have worked hard to get better at it.

Thankfully, I have never forgotten my children and am always aware of where they are.  They are my world...so I try to always be in tune with them...it's everything else that often times gets set aside.

This weakness is something I am aware of...without it I would be a better mother, wife, friend, and person.  I would probably manage my home better...think how this distractedness effects cleaning when you have a time crunch...

What has helped me are lists...when I don't forget the list or lose it that is.  Lists save me.  I write lists all the time so that I can stay focused and keep on track with things.  I use my reminder feature and calendar alerts on my phone A TON!  I'm often ask Siri to remind me of things because she never forgets!  I just hope I don't miss the reminder popping up.

I also have prayed that I get better with this.  It's something I'm not proud of and something that has hurt people who are dear to me.  I never intended to hurt them but it has and I am very sorry for that.  It's a weakness that I hope some day I can say I don't have but until then...I just have to keep training my focus to get out of the tunnel and look beyond!

On the bright side of this, once I focus on something it gets done!

What is your biggest weakness?

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: My Life 5 Years From Now

I'm really not sure why this was such a hard post for me but I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about what to write. Usually I always have a 5 year plan in the back of my head but for some reason I'm having a hard time figuring out what mine is currently. I think I wanted it to be more enlightening but for now I'm just going to write and see what comes out.

My life 5 years from now will look much different but similar to what it is now. What I'm picturing:

We will still be living in our current home that we just closed on in Feb and I hope that it will truly be a home and not just a house. The kitchen and bathroom will have been redone and we'll finally have the landscaping I envision. The playroom will be organized and truly set up as a playroom. Essential I hope that all our major renovation plans are completed and we just have smaller room redos left to do.

In 5 years, my girls will both be getting ready to go to Elementary school. Miss CGR will be 7 1/2 and going into 2nd grade and Miss Ria will be 5 and starting Kindergarten.(I know this is 5 years from now, but I started shaking when I even thought about Carmen going to 2nd grade!) They will hopefully get a long great still and be each other's best friends. Hopefully we'll be on some great summer vacation 5 years from right now and enjoying ourselves before the new school year!

5 years from now, Special K and I will be gearing up to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary that December and hopefully have FINALLY taken our wedding honeymoon or at least have it planned that year. We still hope to make it to a cabin up north for some time together some day.

I hope to be a better wife and mother, as I know there is always room for improvement.  I want to be the best I can be both for my husband and my children.  I pray often about being what they need and being able to support them in the ways that are best for them.  My relationship with my husband is as important as my relationship with my children.  For them and for us, we need to put effort into making our marriage as strong as possible.  It's never going to be smooth sailing but that's ok...I just hope that we are there for each other for the rest of our days.  I hope that we can set the best example for them on love and security.

Sadly I'm not sure if our pups will still be with us. If they haven't crossed the rainbow bridge, then they will both be very elderly. Jackjack would be 15 and I anticipate having a lot of trouble walking because of his early onset of arthritis. Abigail would be 13 and probably still crazy and silly as ever! If they have crossed, then sadly we probably won't have any dogs in the house. I've agreed to not get any more dogs for a long time since Carmen is allergic to dogs and our schedules are just too crazy the way they are now for a new dog. I still can't imagine our home without dogs...so we'll see if I can keep my promise here.

I'm sure I could go on and on about how I will have all these amazing finished knitting projects and spinning away still! I can't imagine stopping that soon as I feel I am a Knitter/Spinner with capitals...not just someone who knits and spins.

My life 5 years from now will hopefully be full of family time as it is now. I know my nieces and nephews will be off at college or off starting their after college lives but I hope we still see them all often and my sisters are still around to get together with regularly.

I hope that I have found a church home by then. I feel a bit lost without one and I miss having my church community.  I hope to continue my nightly devotionals and to grow in my faith and share this faith with my girls.  I feel it's so important that they grow up with a church home and I need to start taking the steps to make this happen.

Well...hope you enjoyed this post...it's not what I envisioned for it but I think I wanted to make it bigger than it is at this moment.

Happy Blogging! 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?How often do you think about your 5 year plan?

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: Who I am

One of my favorite bloggers is starting a blogging journal topic for her Show and Tell Link Up that is 52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose.  This hit me as something that was exactly what I needed to get back to sharing my thoughts on this blog.  I'm joining it a week late so I'm going to post the first week's topic today to catch up.  Hope you enjoy!

Who I Am:

a daughter...I am a daughter to a very important man in my life.  My dad has helped define who I am in so many ways.  His decisions in his life effected me as I grew up and I learned from them and grew into the person I am today.  He has always had good advice for me in his way of saying things but growing up with him I've learned how to understand his words.  He is dear to me and I'm so thankful I'm his daughter.  Being my mother's daughter, even though she passed away when I was 6 years old, defined who I am.  Her memory is strong even though I was only 6 when she passed...she lives in me and my sisters and the stories people share about her life and who she was.  I feel her guiding me as I was growing up and become the woman I am today.  Her spirit is still guiding me and with me today.

a sister...I am a sister to 5 sisters and 2 brothers.  Being a sister to so many has taught me so much about my life and having them in my life is so important.  I'm the youngest so I often times am being mothered by them but that is ok...as I know they love me.  I am not sure who I would be without my sisters and brothers.  They are the best gifts my parents could have ever given me!

a wife...I am a wife to an amazing man.  He is my rock and my home.  We are both stubborn and our marriage is work...like Ben Afleck said in his recent Oscar acceptance speech...marriage is a lot of work...but that work is so rewarding and so worth every ounce of effort.  I often tell him how happy I am that he is my husband and that we have the most amazing 2 girls in the world together.  I'm thankful that we found each other and are doing our best to love, honor, and cherish each other.

a mother...Becoming a mom for the first and now the 2nd time, changed me in so many ways I don't even know where to begin. I think this is the biggest part of who I am today.  It's the most rewarding and hardest thing about who I am.  Someone once said that having children is like taking a part of your heart and letting it out in the world and I never understood this until the day I had Carmen.  It's amazing how much love you can feel instantly for this little person that spent 9 months in you and now is in your arms.  As this little person grows into a toddler, it's amazing how every day they learn something new and your heart just grows even more.  Having my toddler squeal with happiness and call me Mommy when she sees me and my newborn smile a big smile at me...melts my heart into mush.  I am blessed that they chose me to be their mom and I just hope that I do the best I can for them.

and lastly...a knitter/spinner...My knitting is always close by me and something that helps me balance my mind.  I may live in a warm climate but the craft of knitting and playing with fiber is such a big part of who I am as a person too.

How would you define who you are?